Video displays are ubiquitous features in homes, businesses, and public spaces, and are primarily used to provide a visual presentation generated by, for example, personal computers, electronic kiosks, or video games and the like. Video displays are often installed within a housing, particularly if the video display is to be used in connection with, for example, console casino games such as video poker. Until relatively recently, most video displays have been of the cathode ray tube (“CRT”) type, which employs an elongated glass vacuum tube wherein the length of the tube is proportional to the surface area of the display screen. Thus, when using a CRT display, the larger the desired display screen, the longer the CRT and the deeper the housing required to hold and protect the CRT. As such, one problem associated with the use of CRTs in consoles is the inordinately large size required of the console to house the CRT. Another problem is the relatively large amount of electricity required to power a CRT.
One way console manufacturers have solved the problems associated with use of CRTs in consoles is by using flat panel displays in place of CRTs. Traditionally used in laptop computers, console manufacturers are increasingly using flat panel displays, such as liquid crystal displays (“LCD”), plasma, and field emission display (“FED”), as video displays within consoles. Flat panel displays have the advantage of providing a suitable video display within a housing of relatively shallow depth, as well as requiring less power than a CRT. Flat panel display technology has made possible the installation of relatively small counter-top gaming machines, which typically further include a touch screen that allows a user to interact with the video display screen instead of using physical keys or buttons.
While the advent of the flat panel display has made it possible for console manufacturers to use a lighter-weight and thinner display within the consoles, mounting the flat panel display within a console housing has been a continuing problem. Most flat panel displays are intentionally designed to have as little extraneous material as possible in order to maintain the typical slim profile of the flat panel display. This quality of the flat panel display, however, renders direct attachment of it to the console difficult due to the small amount of available area on the display housing that may be attached to the console housing. Unfortunately, many or most commercially available flat panel displays do not further include structures that allow them to be easily mounted within a console. Consequently, console manufacturers have encountered difficulty when attempting to mount commercially-available flat panel displays within console housings. There is a demand, therefore, for a device to mount a flat panel display within a housing regardless of the size of the flat panel display. There also exists a demand for a method of installing a flat panel display within a housing regardless of the size of the flat panel display. The present invention satisfies these demands.